BT SEES ASIA-PACIFIC REVENUE AT $2 B BY 2011

New Delhi, November 17, 2008
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Terming India as one of the key growth contributor in the region, global communications solution and service provider BT today said it expects revenue from the Asia-Pacific market to nearly double to about $2 billion by 2011.

“Asia Pacific is clearly one of the strong growth areas. If you look at our multi-site multi-national customer base, they (the customers) see growth coming from the region and so our business will naturally grow here, in terms of servicing their IT and network services needs,” Matt Bross, Chief Executive Officer, BT Innovate and Group Chief Technology Officer, BT, UK, said on the sidelines of India Economic Summit organised by WEF and CII here.

He said that growth in India business was being fuelled by both Indian organisations with global ambitions, and global players who were expanding their presence in the country. “In terms of service mix, the growth areas are security service, management and desktops, network and applications space,” he said adding that the company was also experiencing growth in other markets such as China, Singapore and Australia, and verticals such as transportation, logistics and energy.

“India will also significantly contribute to the growth in the region,” he added.

Last week, BT had announced 10,000 job cuts, to be split between its own workforce and contractors, sub-contractors and offshore firms that the company works with. Asked about the impact of BT’s move on outsourcing partners such as Tech Mahindra, Infosys, and HCL Technologies, Bross said that BT expected its Indian partners to now go full throttle on driving efficiency and productivity in their operations.

“We are looking for most efficient and effective delivery of services for our shareholders… In many cases the agreements with these companies have to do with the overall performance and there are a number of people they are using to deliver that…The companies should see how they can do that more effectively, perhaps by putting some of the people on other and growth areas that they are pursuing."

He, however, declined to comment on the quantum of jobs that would be impacted by BT’s latest move.